nd it has been renewed every year since with increased
demand. Through this journal alone, by this means, over three hundred
and two thousand copies have been put into the hands of the people
during the past five years.

With the increase in the circulation of the Word of God there has been
a costly and thorough effort to gain new light on its pages. Never
before have labor and money been expended so lavishly in endeavors to
learn from exploration and research, historical facts which would
contribute to an intelligent understanding of its history and
literature. In 1865 a society called the Palestine Exploration Society
was organized for the special purpose of thoroughly examining the Holy
Land, investigating and identifying ancient sites and making exact
maps of the country. In twenty-seven years the society, though working
with the utmost economy, expended $425,000. The result of its labors
has been to let a flood of light on the ancient places and the ancient
customs of its people, explaining many allusions in the sacred
history, poetry and prophecy that were previously dark. The Egypt
Exploration Fund has also added materially to our knowledge of that
country which is associated with the early history of the Chosen
People. But the most valuable aid to Bible study came from the
discovery of the Assyrian Royal Library, a series of clay tablets and
cylinders covered with cuneiform inscriptions which were deciphered by
Mr. George Smith of the British Museum. From these and from the
records on the monuments of Egypt historical information has been
derived of inestimable value in the study of the Bible.

A GREAT MISSIONARY ERA.

One of the most prominent characteristics of the Church of Christ in
this century has been its phenomenal missionary activity. Its zeal in
this cause, the devotion and courage of its missionaries and the
amount of money expended have had no parallel in the previous history
of the Church. Already a beginning had been made when the century
dawned. In 1701 King William III. of England had granted a charter to
the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. In
1714 Frederick IV. of Denmark established a College of Missions and
two Danish missionaries were laboring in India. In 1721 the famous
Danish missionary, Hans Egede, began a work in Greenland. In 1732 the
Moravian missionaries, Dober and Nitschmann, went to St. Thomas, and
in the following year the Moravian Church sent missi